Her grandmother emigrated to California from Norway in the late 19th century; both of Anderson's parents were native-born Americans.
[6] Mama's Bank Account,[7][8][9] her best-known work, was published in 1943 and revolved around the daily struggles and aspirations of a Norwegian family living in San Francisco in the 1910s.
In 1948, a film version of the play was released by RKO Pictures and starred Irene Dunne as Mama and Barbara Bel Geddes as her daughter, an aspiring writer.
The first, adapted by Neal Du Brock and John Clifton, opened in Buffalo, New York in 1972 with Celeste Holm in the role of Mama.
Unlike Mama's Bank Account, which drew on the experiences of her Norwegian-born maternal grandmother, Annie Lund (1849–1928),[2] this novel was closer to Forbes' actual childhood.